Constitution of the United States of Brazil (1946)/Act of Constitutional Transitory Provisions
The Constituent Assembly decrees and promulgates the following
ACT OF CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
Art. 1—After promulgation of this Act, the Constituent Assembly shall, on the following day, elect the Vice-President of the Republic for the first constitutional period.
§ 1. Such election, for which none shall be ineligible, shall be made by secret scrutiny and shall, on the first ballot, be by absolute majority of votes, or if none of the voted candidates obtain it, by relative majority the second time.
§ 2. The Vice-President elect shall take office before the Assembly on the same date, or else before the Federal Senate.
§ 3. The mandate of the Vice-President shall terminate simultaneously with that of the first presidential period.
Art. 2.—The mandate of the President of the Republic in office (Art. 82 of the Constitution) shall count as from the date of his taking office.
§ 1. The mandates of the present deputies and those of the federal senators who where elected in order to complete the number prescribed by Paragraph 1 of Art. 60 of the Constitution, shall coincide with that of the President of the Republic.
§ 2. The mandates of the other senators shall terminate on 31st January 1955.
§ 3. The mandates of the governors and of the deputies to the Legislative Assemblies, as well as those of the municipal councilors in the Federal District, elected in accordance with Art. 11 of this Act, shall expire on the same date as that of the President of the Republic.
Art. 3—The Constituent Assembly, after fixing the pecuniary grant of the President and Vice-President of the Republic, for the first constitutional period, as per Art. 86 of the Constitution, shall consider its mission completed and shall be separated into the Chamber (of deputies) and the Senate, which shall initiate the exercise of their respective legislative powers.
Art. 4—The Capital of the Union shall be moved to the central plateau of the country.
§ 1. Within sixty days from the promulgation of the present Act, the President of the Republic shall appoint a committee of technicians of recognized skill to proceed with the study of the prospective site for the new capital.
§ 2. The study referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be sent up to the National Congress which shall deliberate thereon and frame a special law, and shall establish the time limit in which to begin the delimitation of the area to be incorporated into the domain of the Union.
§ 3. Upon the completion of the work of demarkation, the National Congress shall decide upon the date of removal of the capital.
§ 4. The transfer (of the capital) having been made, the present Federal District shall constitute the State of Guanabara.
Art. 5—Federal intervention in the case of Item No. VI of Art. 7 of the Constitution, with reference to the States in arrears with the payment of their funded debt, cannot be effected earlier than two years from the date of promulgation of this Act.
Art. 6—Within three years from the promulgation of this Act, the States shall undertake, by mutual agreement, the remarkation of their boundaries, being permitted, for this purpose, to make alterations and compensations of areas in accordance with the natural features of the terrain, administrative conveniences and the convenience of the frontier populations.
§ 1. If the States interested so request, the Government of the Union shall entrust the work of demarkation to the Geographical Service of the Army.
§ 2. If such States do not comply with the requirements of this article, the Federal Senate shall deliberate with respect thereto, without prejudice to the competence established by Art. 101, No. 1, letter e) of the Constitution.
Art. 7—The cattle ranches belonging to the domain of the Union, situated in the territory of the state of Piaui, and remaining from confiscation of the Jesuits during the colonial period, shall become the property of that State.
Art. 8—The present Territories of Iguaçu and Ponta Pora are hereby declared extinct, their respective areas returning to the States from which they were dismembered.
Sole Paragraph—The judges and, when enjoying stability in office, the members of the Attorney General's Office in the Territories now extinct, shall continue on the available list, with pay, until able to be utilized in federal or state posts, the nature of which, as well as the corresponding remuneration, may be compatible with those which they were occupying at the date of the promulgation of this Act.
Art. 9—The Territory of Acre shall be raised to the category of a State, with the name of State of Acre, as soon as its revenues become equal to those of the State which presently brings in the lowest return.
Art. 10—The provisions of Art. 56 of the Constitution do not apply to the Territory of Fernando de Noronha.
Art. 11—On the first Sunday after one hundred and twenty days, counted from the promulgation of this Act, there shall take place, in each State, the election of the Governor and of the Deputies to the Legislative Assemblies, which, at the beginning, shall have a constituent function.
§ 1. In the first election, the number of deputies to the State Assemblies shall be as follows: Amazonas, thirty; Pará, thirty-seven; Maranhão, thirty-six; Piauí, thirty-two; Ceara, forty-five; Rio Grande do Norte, thirty-two; Paraíba, thirty-seven; Pernambuco, fifty-five; Alagoas, thirty-five; Sergipe, thirty-two; Bahia, sixty; Espírito Santo, thirty-two; Rio de Janeiro, fifty-four; São Paulo, seventy-five; Paraná, thirty-seven; Santa Catarina, thirty-seven; Rio Grande do Sul, fifty-five; Minas Gerais, seventy-two; Goiás, thirty-two and Mato Grosso, thirty.
§ 2. Elections shall be held on the same date:
I—in the States and in the Federal District;
a) for the third Senatorial seat and the alternates as prescribed by Art. 60, paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of the Constitution;
b) for the party alternates of the Senators elected on 2nd December 1945, if, in respect of these, no vacancy has taken place;
II—for the federal deputies, to complete the requisite number in those States where the number of representatives to the Chamber of Deputies may not correspond to that established in the Constitution, taking as a basis the last official estimate of the Institute of Geography and Statistics;
III—for one federal deputy in the Territories, Acre and Fernando de Noronha being excepted;
IV—for fifty municipal councillors in the Federal District;
V—for the completion of existing vacancies, or any which may occur, up to thirty days before the poll, in the respective electoral zones, and for the alternates themselves in the case of Senators.
§ 3. In the elections referred to in this article, the political parties, in each State, may enter two candidates more than the number of deputies to be elected to the Federal Chamber. The successful alternates in the election shall substitute those who were elected in the terms of Paragraph 2, in the cases mentioned in the Constitution and in the law, as also those, of the same political party, whose list of alternates may have become exhausted.
§ 4. The entry of the same candidate for more than one State shall not be permitted.
§ 5. The Electoral High Court shall take steps to ensure compliance with this article and its preceding paragraphs. In the exercise of this prerogative, the same Court shall fix, in accordance with official statistical information, the number of new seats in the federal representation, taking into account the criterion established in Art. 58 of the Constitution and its two paragraphs.
§ 6. The mandate of least duration shall be that of the third senator. If more than one senator be elected by the same state or by the Federal District, the mandate of longest duration shall be that of the one receiving the most votes.
§ 7. In the elections referred to in this article, the only disqualifications shall be:
I—for governor:
a) the Ministers of State who may have been in office during three months prior to the election;
b) those who, up to eighteen months before the election, may have exercised the office of President of the Republic or, in the respective State, even if only in an acting capacity, that of Governor or Interventor; and also the secretaries of States, commanders of military zones, chiefs and commanders of police, magistrates and the head of the Attorney General's Office, who may have been engaged in these functions at any time during the two months immediately preceding the election;
II—for Federal Senators and Deputies and their respective alternates, those who, up to six months prior to the election, may have exercised the office of Governor or Interventor in the respective State, and the other authorities referred to in No. I who may have been occupying these posts at any time during the two months immediately preceding the election;
III—for deputies to the State Assemblies, the authorities referred to in No. I letters a) and b) (second part) who may have been occupying these posts at any time during the two months immediately preceding the election;
IV—for Councillors to the Municipal Chamber of the Federal District, the Mayor and the authorities referred to in No. I, letters a) and b) (second part), who may have been occupying these posts at any time during the two months immediately preceding the election.
§ 8. After receiving their diplomas, the deputies to the State Assemblies shall meet, within ten days, presided over by the President of the Regional Electoral Court, by convocation of the latter, who shall set in motion the election of the Board.
§ 9. Any State which, up to four months after the installation of its Assembly, may not have decreed its Constitution, shall, by deliberation of the National Congress, be submitted to the Constitution of whichever other State may be deemed most suitable, until it has been amended by the process determined therein.
Art. 12—Pending the promulgation of the State Constitutions and in the case of the Federal District, the decreeing of its Organic Law, the States and Municipal districts shall be administered in accordance with the legislation in force at the date of promulgating this Act.
Sole Paragraph—Within ten days counted from their official publication, any citizen may appeal to the President of the Republic from the Acts of the Interventors; and, on the same terms, to the Interventor, from the acts of the Municipal Mayors.
Art. 13—The discrimination of revenues established in Arts. 19 to 21 and 29 of the Federal Constitution shall come into force on January 1st, 1948, in so far as it modifies the previous regime.
§ 1. The States which levy exportation taxes higher than the limit allowed by Art. 19, No. V, shall reduce the excess gradually, within a period of four years, except in the case referred to in Paragraph 6 of that article.
§ 2. As from 1948, the following shall be made gradually effective:
I—in the course of two years, the requirements of Art. 15, paragraph 4, whereby the Union shall hand over to the Municipal districts half of the quota in the first year and the entire quota in the second year;
II—in the course of four years, the abolition of any taxes which, under the Constitution, may not be included in the powers of the governments collecting them at present;
III—in the course of ten years, the provisions contained in Art. 20 of the Constitution.
§ 3. The federal or state law, in accordance with the case, may establish a shorter period for the fulfilment of the provisions indicated in the previous paragraphs.
Art. 14—For composition of the Federal Court of Appeals, in the part constituted by magistrates, the Federal Supreme Court shall indicate, in order that they may be appointed by the President of the Republic, up to three of the sectional judges and substitutes of the extinct Federal Justice, if they meet the requirements of Art. 99 of the Constitution. The indication shall be made, whenever possible, in a duplicate list for each case.
§ 1. Immediately after the termination of the period mentioned in Art. 3, the National Congress shall fix, by law, the salaries of the Judges of the Federal Court of Appeals; and, within thirty days from sanctioning or promulgating the same law, the President of the Republic shall make the respective appointments.
§ 2. When the Court has been installed, it shall elaborate its internal regime and shall provide for the organization of its secretariat, registry offices, and other services, and shall propose to the National Congress the creation of the Administrative offices, and the fixing of the respective remunerations (Constitution, Art. 97, No. II).
§ 3. Pending the functioning of the Federal Court of Appeals, the Federal Supreme Court shall continue to judge all the cases which come within its province, in the terms of the previous legislation.
§ 4. When the law provided for in § 1 has been voted, the Federal Supreme Courts shall forward to the Federal Court of Appeals all cases incumbent upon the latter which do not bear the visa of the respective reporter.
§ 5. The embargos against the sentences pronounced by the Federal Supreme Court shall continue to be prosecuted and judged by that Court.
Art. 15—Within ten days counted from the promulgation of this Act, the Electoral Court of Justice shall be organized in the terms of Heading I, Chapter IV, Section V of the Constitution.
§ 1. For the composition of the Electoral Superior Court, the Tribunal of Justice of the Federal District shall elect, by secret ballot, from amongst its judges, one effective member, as well as two provisional members, who shall continue in office until such time as the Federal Court of Appeals may comply with the requirement (of Art. 110, No. I, letter b) of the Constitution.
§ 2. After the Electoral Courts have been installed, they shall proceed in the manner indicated in Paragraph 2 of Art. 14 of this Act.
§ 3. In the filling of offices of the Secretariats of the Electoral Supreme Courts and of the Regional Electoral Courts, the effective office holders of the tribunals extinguished on November 10, 1937, shall be utilized, if they should still be in the active service of the Union, and request it; and to complete the respective rosters, the personnel which at present makes up the secretariats of the same tribunals shall be utilized.
§ 4. Until the secretariats of these Tribunals have been definitely organized, the personnel to which the final sentence of paragraph 3 of this Article alludes, shall continue in office.
Art. 16—As from January 1st, 1947, the magistrates of the Federal District and of the States shall begin to receive the emoluments fixed in accordance with what the Constitution establishes.
Art. 17—The present Maritime Court shall continue with the organization and the prerogatives attributed to it by current legislation, until such time as the federal law may deal with this matter in accordance with the terms of the Constitution.
Art. 18—Brazilians who, in the last war, rendered military service to the Allied Nations, even without the permission of the Brazilian government, shall not forfeit their nationality, nor shall minors who, in the same manner, may have served other Nations.
Sole Paragraph—The present employees of the Union, the States, and the Municipal districts, who formed part of the Brazilian expeditionary forces, are considered to have stability of employment.
Art. 19—Those who may have acquired Brazilian nationality during the validity of previous Constitutions and may have exercised any elective mandate whatsoever, is eligible to occupy posts as representative of the people, excepting those of President and Vice-President of the Republic and of State Governor.
Art. 20—The precept of the sole paragraph of Art. 155 of the Constitution does not apply to naturalized Brazilians who, on the date of this Act, were exercising the professions to which the said paragraph refers.
Art. 21—The utilization of waterfalls, already being used for industrial purposes on July 16, 1934 (Translator's note: the date of the penultimate Constitution) and, by the same token, the exploitation of mines in production, even if temporarily suspended, does not depend upon concession or authorization; but such utilization and exploitation remain subject to the regulations and to the revision of contracts, as prescribed by law.
Art. 22—The provisions of Art. 182, paragraph 1 of the Constitution do not prejudice concessions which may have been granted prior to this Act and which are maintained or re-established.
Art. 23—The present temporary employees of the Union, of the States, and the Municipalities having at least five years of service, shall automatically be made effective on the date of promulgation of this Act; and the present supernumeraries who may be exercising a function of permanent character for more than five years, or (who may be exercising the function) by virtue of a contest or test of ability, shall be placed on the same level as officeholders for purposes of stability, retirement, leave, availability, and vacations.
Sole Paragraph—The provisions of this article do not apply to:
I—those who may temporarily exercise life-tenure offices considered as such in the Constitution;
II—those who may hold office for the filling of which a contest may have been held with registration closed on the date of the promulgation of this Act;
III—those who may have been disqualified in a contest for the post occupied.
Art. 24—The employees who, in accordance with the legislation then in force, accumulated technical and scientific teaching posts and who forfeited their effective employment by virtue of the prohibition to retain more than one post, established in the Charter of November 10th, 1937 and Decree-Law No. 24 of December 1st, of the same year, are hereby deemed to be on the available list, with pay, until such time as their services may be utilized again, without, however, any right to salary prior to the date of promulgation of this Act.
Sole Paragraph—The retirement benefits are hereby restored to those who lost them by virtue of the Decree mentioned, but also, without any right to salary prior to the date of promulgation of this Act.
Art. 25—The employees of the Secretariats of the Legislative Chambers are assured the right to receive additional bonuses for the time they are in the public service.
Art. 26—The Chair Officers of the Constituent Assembly shall issue diplomas of effective appointment to the temporary employees in the Secretariats of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies occupying vacant offices, who up to September 3rd, 1946, rendered services during the work of drawing up the Constitution.
Sole Paragraph—Those serving in an acting capacity up to the date mentioned and not benefited by the provisions of this Article, shall be utilized to fill the first vacancies which may occur.
Art. 27—During the period of fifteen years, counted from the installation of the Constituent Assembly, the real estate acquired for his residence by a journalist, who possesses no other, shall be exempt from the transfer tax, and, as long as it serves the purpose envisioned in this article, from the respective buildings tax.
Sole Paragraph—For the effects of this article, a journalist shall be considered as one who proves that he is in the exercise of the profession, in accordance with legislation in force, or has been pensioned therein.
Art. 28—Amnesty is hereby granted to all citizens considered to be deserters or to have failed to present themselves for military service up to the date of promulgation of this Act, being likewise extensive to any workers who have undergone disciplinary punishment as a consequence of strikes or labour disputes.
Art. 29—The Federal Government is obligated, within a period of twenty years, counted from the date of promulgation of this Constitution to prepare and execute a scheme for the total utilization of the economic possibilities of the River São Francisco and its tributaries, in which it shall apply, annually, an amount not less than one percent of its revenue from taxes.
Art. 30—Those, who availed themselves of the right to present claims, instituted by the sole paragraph of Art. 18 of the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution of July 16th, 1934, are assured the right to plead before the Judicial Power for recognition of their rights, except with respect to remuneration in arrears, and all prescriptions shall be forgiven in this manner, providing that the following requirements are fulfilled:
I—to have obtained in the respective cases, a favorable and final opinion of the Revisory Commission, referred to in Decree No. 254 of August 1st, 1935;
II—the Executive Power not having acted in accordance with opinion of the Revisory Committee, with the object of restoring the rights of the claimants.
Translator's note. The Sole Paragraph of Art. 18 of the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution of 16th July 1934 read as follows:
"Sole Paragraph—The President of the Republic shall organize at an opportune moment, one or various committees presided over by federal judges, with life-appointments who, appraising, without special legal formality, the claims of the interested parties, shall issue a considered opinion as to the convenience of their services being utilized in the posts or public functions, which they held or discharged and from which they may have been removed by the Provisional Government, or its Delegates, or in other corresponding posts, as soon as possible, payment of salaries in arrears or of any indemnifications whatsoever being in every case excluded".
Art. 31—The incorporation into the patrimony of the Union of the goods given in guarantee, by those benefited by the financing of the cotton crops, from the 1942 crop to the 1945 and 1946 crops, shall not be liable to judicial consideration.
Art. 32—Within two years, counted from the promulgation of this Act, the Union shall conclude the (construction of) Rio-Northeast highway.
Art. 33—The Government shall cause to be erected in the Capital of the Republic, a monument to Rui Barbosa, in consecration of his services to the Fatherland, to liberty and to justice.
Art. 34—The honors of Marshal of the Brazilian army are hereby conferred upon General of Division João Batista Mascarenhas de Morais, Commander of the Brazilian Expeditionary Forces in the last war.
Art. 35—The Government shall appoint a committee of professors, writers and journalists in order that they may give their opinion on the denomination of the national language.
Art. 36—This Act shall be promulgated by the Chair Officers of the Constituent Assembly in the form prescribed by Art. 218 of the Constitution.
Rio de Janeiro, 18th September 1946
Note: The signatories to the above Act were the same as those who signed the Constitution.